State

SANTA FE – More than 2,500 deer hunting licenses and almost 900 javelina licenses that were not allocated during the annual drawing for 2013-14 big-game hunting licenses will go on sale at 10 a.m. June 26 on the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish website.
New Mexico residents will get first shot at the licenses during the first-come, first-served sale. License sales will be open to residents only for the first 24 hours. The sale will be opened to everyone, regardless of residency, at 10 a.m. June 27.
To be eligible to buy a leftover license, hunters must have either previously purchased a game hunting or game hunting and fishing license. Those licenses, along with Habitat Improvement Stamps and Habitat Management Access Validations, also can be obtained through online accounts.
Game and fish strongly encourages interested hunters to obtain or review online customer accounts, including their Customer Identification number, user name and password, and to be signed on to their account before the sale begins.
Popular licenses often sell out very quickly.
Leftover licenses will be sold online only. Licenses and stamps can be printed from any computer by signing on to an account and selecting “My purchases.”

DENVER – Western Athletic Conference officials announced Friday that Jeff Hurd has been hired full-time as the conference’s commissioner.
The appointment came following the conclusion of the summer meeting of the 2013-14 Board of Directors. Hurd had served as the league’s interim commissioner since March 2012.
Hurd, who becomes the sixth commissioner in the WAC’s 51-year history, joined the WAC staff in August 1985 and has served in various capacities during his tenure. He was the conference’s senior associate commissioner prior to being named to replace former commissioner Karl Benson on an interim basis.
New Mexico State University competes in the WAC, which will have an entirely different look this fall, as six new member schools will join.
NMSU’s Aggies, along with Seattle University and Idaho will be the only members of the WAC returning, along with newcomers Cal-State Bakersfield, Missouri-Kansas City, Grand Canyon University, Chicago State, Texas Pan-Am and Utah Valley.

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids and Mexican first division club Santos Laguna have scheduled a game in Albuquerque.
The Rapids announced Friday that the two clubs will play an international friendly at University Stadium on July 12. The move is part of efforts by MLS and La Liga MX to expand to new markets.
Interest in soccer has grown in Albuquerque, partly because of the success of the New Mexico’s men’s soccer team. The city also is home to a sizeable Mexican immigrant population.
Colorado won the MLS Cup for the first time in 2010.
Club Santos Laguna is one of the most popular soccer teams in Mexico.

Tony Gwynn Jr. came through with a two-run double in the 11th inning and Jeremy Moore’s two-run homer later in the inning boosted the Albuquerque Isotopes to a win Thursday.
Albuquerque earned a split on the road in its four-game series against Round Rock, scoring five runs in the 11th to win 9-4.
Albuquerque returns to Isotopes Park for a four-game series against Memphis starting tonight.
Thursday’s game was about as even as it could be through 10 innings, with both teams recording 4 runs, 7 hits, 2 errors and had left 9 runners on base.
The big hits in the 11th by Gwynn and Moore were the only hits the two had Thursday. They had gone a combined 0-for-9 prior to that.
The Isotopes (35-32), who have now alternated wins and losses for 13 games, used six pitchers against Round Rock (37-31). Steve Ames (2-2), who threw the bottom of the 10th, earned the victory.

The Albuquerque Isotopes banged out 13 hits Wednesday night at Round Rock, Texas, but those hits didn’t equate to many runs.
Albuquerque managed just one run through eight innings Wednesday. It tried to mount a rally in the top of the ninth, but scored just one more run to lose 4-2 against the Express.
The teams have just one more meeting in this series, that coming tonight, before the Isotopes return home for a quick four-game set against Memphis that opens Friday.
Against Round Rock, Eilan Herrera and Tony Gwynn Jr. went a combined 7-for-9 at the plate from the Nos. 2 and 3 spots in the batting order and six of the other eight hitters to go up to the plate for the Isotopes had a hit but the Isotopes (34-32) couldn’t manage to string any of those hits together.
Meanwhile, Round Rock (37-30) scored a pair of runs in the first and tacked on single scores in the third and seventh to win. Albuquerque pitcher Aaron Laffey (2-3) took the loss, giving up three earned runs on seven hits.

Aggies’ Olive nominated for Woman of Year award
New Mexico State University softball standout Amber Olive was nominated for a prestigious award by the NCAA.
Olive is up for the NCAA’s Woman of the Year award following a big 2013 season and her role in areas of community service, leadership and academics.
The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee takes the top 10 candidates from Divisions I-III and from that pool the winner will be selected.
Olive, a senior left fielder originally from Simi Valley, Calif., graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and communication studies, earning a cumulative grade-point average of 3.91.
Olive is a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete and was a four-time All-WAC Academic selection.
For the Aggie softball team, she was an All-WAC first team player and led the conference in hits (79), runs (41) and was second in batting average (.393).
She was also co-chair of Drive HOPE (Helping Other People Eat), an organization that collected more than 2,500 pounds of food for the underprivileged in Doña Ana County.
NMSU announces soccer schedule for 2013 season

The Albuquerque Isotopes’ Blake Johnson continued his recent hot streak on the mound, helping the Isotopes to just their second shutout victory of the season Tuesday.
Johnson, who is fifth in the Pacific Coast League in ERA, gave up just three hits in five innings at Round Rock.
His counterpart, the Round Rock Express’ Brad Mills, who had the eighth-best ERA coming in, didn’t fare as well, although he gave up just two earned runs in six innings.
But with Tuesday’s game still tight, the Isotopes rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to defeat Round Rock 6-0.
Johnson (6-3) improved his season ERA to 3.10. He allowed only one walk and struck out five as the Isotopes (34-31) continued their string of alternating wins and losses to 11 games.
Mills took his first loss of the season Tuesday, going to 6-1.
Johnson has allowed just four runs in his last 30 innings of work.
The Isotopes will return to Albuquerque Friday night.
Dodgers, Isotopes swap players

Bryan Peterson of the New Orleans Zephyrs belted a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning to drop the Albuquerque Isotopes 3-2 Thursday.
Albuquerque fell in the opener of its eight-game road trip which runs through June 14.
The two teams were tied at 2-2 from the top of the third inning through the bottom of the eighth before Peterson’s home run. Isotopes starting pitcher Blake Johnson threw six strong innings (6 hits, 2 earned runs, 7 strikeouts) and reliever Sean White set down all three batters he faced in the seventh before Javy Guerra (0-3) gave up the solo shot in the eighth.
But the Isotopes offense managed just one hit off three New Orleans relievers who took over for starter Doug Mathis.
The loss dropped the Isotopes (31-29) to three games back of Round Rock, their next opponent following this series, in this PCL American Southern standings.